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He said: “In addition to the bad ones — and I call these bad — in addition to them, they’re releasing some good ones that we use every day to wash cars, to change oil in our cars, to cook in the kitchen, to do all that where we save money, well they are going to let them out.”

Someone should tell Sheriff Prator that these “them” are human beings. He should also be told that it costs more to house these prisoners than it does to rehabilitate/train them and allow them to return to their communities.

Sheriff Prator may not have meant for it to come out the way it did, but it brought national attention to Caddo Parish for all the wrong reasons.

His statement is indicative of a public official who has been around too long, regardless of how much he is liked. Sheriff Prator has done some good things during his tenure, and there is no doubt that he has a stellar reputation in law enforcement. I have appreciated some of his initiatives to implement programs for young people that teach them character and values. He is a law-and-order guy, which is a good a good thing. He is an equal-opportunity employer whose work force is one of the most diverse in the state, which is also good thing.

Like Sheriff Prator, I believe that if you do the crime, you should do the time, especially if you have committed a sexual crime or committed a crime with a firearm. Where Sheriff Prator and I part company is when he goes out of his way to undermine bi-partisan decisions made by the legislature to save the state money.

Politicians from both political parties have tried to implement criminal justice reform, something that is sorely needed in a country that locks up more of its citizens than any other country in the world. More than 2.4 million Americans are in jails and prisons across this country, with costs approaching $100 billion. The United States represents about 4.5 percent of the world's population, but it houses around 25 percent of the world's prisoners.

Louisiana, which has the highest per capita prison population in the country, has recently been at the forefront of that effort. Gov. John Bel Edwards has made it clear that he is looking to sheriffs like Steve Prator to embrace reform that can save the taxpayers millions of dollars.

Sheriff Prator should get on board with the reform efforts. Efforts by the governor and legislature are expected to reduce the state’s prison population by 10 percent over 10 years. The bills took on the state’s disproportionately harsh sentences, shortening prison and probation time for some nonviolent and drug offenses. Reform could potentially save the state $262 million.

The Vera Institute of Justice reported in 2015 that “jails throughout the United States have become warehouses for the poor, the mentally ill and those suffering from addiction, as such individuals lack the financial means or mental capacity to post bail.” That statement is borne out by the fact that states and municipalities throughout the country lack resources to give these individuals the services they need. The prison industrial complex has become big business.

Louisiana spends more than $625 million on prisons and jails. That is money that could be better spent on other things like education, infrastructure and healthcare. It is lunacy for the state to continue to spend this kind of money housing individuals who are not violent, have not committed a sex crime and have not committed a crime with a firearm.

It is not Sheriff Prator’s place to circumvent laws that are passed by a bipartisan majority of the legislature. He should embrace reform and work with the legislature and the governor to make reforms work.

The fact that the governor and the legislature have come together in a bi-partisan way to address prison reform is a good thing. It may be a precursor to other bi-partisan efforts that can move the state forward with respect to closing the budget deficit. As was said earlier, this effort of prison reform is expected to save the state $262 million over the next 10 years. That is real money that can be used to implement the type of reforms that are needed to move the state forward.

The irony of all of this is that Sheriff Prator may not even realize that what he said was insensitive to a lot of people. He may be tone death or he may have really meant to say what he said, but the idea of wanting to keep the “good” ones to do the menial jobs of cooking and cleaning is part of what is wrong with the system.

A system of free labor that is perpetuated by “user’s fees” that sheriffs receive for every filled bed. It incentivizes the practice of holding inmates for their full terms, which is very costly to the taxpayers of this state. Prison reform is necessary and good for Louisiana. Sheriff Prator should embrace reform and help make it work. And that’s my take.